Kazmi cited these statistics from a report prepared by the Federal Public Service Commission of Pakistan’s chairperson, retired Justice Rana Bhagwandas.

KARACHI: Sindh can only fill about six per cent of its 19% quota of federal jobs simply because there aren’t enough suitable candidates, said Karachi University’s (KU) former pro-vice chancellor, Prof. Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi.

Kazmi cited these statistics from a report prepared by the Federal Public Service Commission of Pakistan’s chairperson, retired Justice Rana Bhagwandas, at a seminar on the Central Superior Services (CSS). It was organised by the youth affairs ministry in collaboration with KU on Thursday

“It is the responsibility of the provincial institutions to groom people so that they can meet the requirements of federal jobs and participate in running the affairs of the country,” said Kazmi while calling the situation alarming.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the youth affairs ministry and KU to train aspiring candidates under the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Programme (BBSYDP) before they take the CSS exam, said Kazmi.

A trainee, while sharing his experience, commended the initiative but also pointed out a few shortcomings, including the exclusion of CSS officers in the training programme. He, however, appreciated the analytical depth provided by the KU faculty members.

According to the KU vice chancellor, Prof. Dr Muhammad Qaiser, the expertise of retired and current CSS officers will also be put to use for the next batch of students.

Qaiser pointed out to the FPSC that new disciplines need to be incorporated into the CSS exams and the list of courses needs to be reviewed. “A number of graduating students in new fields of study, such as microbiology, do not find these subjects on the list of the CSS optional courses.”

The Sindh youth affairs minister, Faisal Subzwari, compared the civil bureaucracy in Sindh to that of the Punjab’s and said that the former still needs to catch up. To prove his point, he said that good students opt for jobs in the private sector to earn more which leaves the allocated government jobs for average students.

Subzwari said that the ministry had chalked out a plan to increase awareness about the vitality of the CSS by building partnerships with reputed institutions, such as the Institute of Business Administration, Institute of Chartered Accountants Pakistan, Karachi University, Sindh University and Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur.

The seminar came to an end with the graduation ceremony of 46 students who had successfully completed the five-month training and received certificates from the KU vice chancellor.